


So You're Dying, Ey?

by code_earth



Series: Spirit of the Deep [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (but not for long), A bit of canon divergence, Alternate Universe, Character Death, Drowning, Episode: s01e18 The Waterbending Master, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Swearing, Zhao (Avatar) Is An Asshole, no beta we die like Zuko's ship, obviously, the blue spirit is actually called the dark water spirit, what have i gotten myself into?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 07:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30018585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/code_earth/pseuds/code_earth
Summary: His ship blows up, Zuko drowns.Two spirits decide otherwise.
Relationships: The Blue Spirit & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Spirit of the Deep [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2208252
Comments: 6
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I really shouldn't be posting a new series when I already have another one...

This was bullshit.

Everything was bullshit.

Fuck all of this, and fuck Zhao specifically.

How dare that piece of shit take away his crew! Who the fuck thought it was good idea to promote that creep to ‘admiral’ anyway? Oh right, it was Father. He said it once, and he would say it again, Father was a fool. There, his _traitorous_ mind said it! Father had been foolish (and how little did _that_ happen?) to promote that smarmy ass shit because that man would probably try to destroy the world if he knew a way. He couldn’t be trusted, and Father was a dumbass.

(He was _so_ glad that people couldn’t read minds. _Ah_ , the wonderful things he could think of without repercussions…)

So yes, Zuko was sulking. _Hard._ He admitted it, and he would continue to do so for the rest of the night, thank you very much! Sure, there were better things he could do, like try to plan out his next move since he didn’t have a crew anymore, try to track the Avatar and all that, but he honestly didn’t care to do so at that particular moment.

He already missed them. He would have never admitted it out loud, but how could he not grow at least somewhat fond of the people with whom he had spent three years? The people that had stuck with him even though he was a shitty captain and a shitty person. These people had stayed, and during the last month, he had started growing closer to them. Sure, not by much, but he had started to learn more about them, about their lives, their passions, and some had even taught him a few things. He was now proud to say that he could repair a leak and a boiler thanks to Aiko, or that he knew how to cook some basic stuff courtesy of Kazuto. He had learned how to pick a lock faster than his old method with Furora, and Kyo had been rather happy to teach him everything about the bridge after he had saved him from a fall during that thunderstorm. Zuko had started to connect with these people!

And then Admiral Douchebag waltzed right in and recruited them. Fuckin’ _brilliant_.

A loud noise (probably from rusted metal) stopped his thoughts. Weird, he was the only one supposed to still be on the ship, since Uncle decided to go on a walk.

“Uncle?” he called out, mostly for himself. In retrospect, the noise probably hadn’t been that loud, but his hearing had stopped making sense three years ago. What he was sure of was that that noise had come from a door being opened. “Uncle, is that you?” he called out again after opening his door.

After hearing no response, Zuko got antsy. He checked the nearby corridor, but nothing. With that, he decided to do to the bridge, while thinking that the noise had probably come from the ship being really fucking old. Once he got there, he couldn’t help but remember all of what Kyo had taught him. He was an odd man, said the most unexpected things sometimes, but he was very good at being descriptive. He could almost hear him _politely_ tell him to stop touching the compass. With a sigh, he shooed his nostalgia away. (Was it nostalgia? It wasn’t very old, so…)

And then, he saw the bird. A very familiar reptile-parrot. It belonged to pirates, and Zuko realised that it was probably the same ones from a while back. If that reptile-parrot was here, then-

Loud. Too _fucking loud._ An explosion rang out from the base of the ship’s tower. As it made it’s way to the bridge, Zuko only had a split second to prepare himself. Sadly, as it blasted in the bridge, he only managed to stop the explosion from blowing him to smithereens. He got blasted out of the tower right in the sea.

The sudden cold right after so much heat shock him. It made him also realise that burns had formed on his hands and forearms, along with his legs and back from what he could feel. The cold saltwater soothed yet aggravated the wounds. It made them hurt too much. He tried to swim back to the surface, but his body was too weak because of the damage it took.

Soon enough, he let himself drown, to tired to think of why he had to get back. What did it matter anyway? No one would miss him. Mother was gone, Uncle would finally be rid of him, and Father and Azula probably wouldn’t care much. He had heard that people saw their life flash before them right before dying, and the only thing he got out of it was that he really had been a fool to think that Father cared even a bit for him. Hindsight really was a bitch.

And so he fell further and further down into the deep. He would die in water, his opposite element. He couldn’t help but laugh internally at the fact that three years ago, he had been scared of burning alive, when _this_ was how it all ended. Instead of hot, blazing, skin melting fire, it was cold, deep, literal breath taking water. How funny was that?

Not much, but before the Agni Kai, he had been a pretty optimistic person. It was probably coming back now, just to taunt him. Fucking optimism.

He was glad that Uncle had left the ship. He was glad that the komodo-rhinos and messenger hawks had been taken away from the ship. Hopefully they wouldn’t die in a battle, or be shot from afar.

_Never give up without a fight._ Man, what a pretty sentence. He had lived by it, but you couldn’t really fight against the fucking ocean. Too bad, he really wanted to punch it.

But instead, he just fell down further.

And further.

And further.

And further.

And further down.

\---

_Well, this was disappointing. Surely, the Little Bonfire could have put up a better fight, right? Then again, Great La wasn’t a very easy spirit to fight, and they would know. Oh well, that was mortal life, but they were quite bothered that their fun had ended just when it had started._

“You can’t get everything, you know?” _they heard a dear friend’s voice say. Sure, she hadn’t been talking about that at the time, but it went along quite well with this context._

_They had seen the Little Bonfire a few weeks ago (they didn’t know how many, humans had very odd ways of measuring time) break into a dangerous fortress to get the World Spirit (or Avatar if you wanted to be technical) out. While being his enemy. Simply_ inspired _. That act of pure chaos had caught their eye right away, and they couldn’t get enough of the human since! The complete contradiction spanning to his very core had fascinated them. Oh the conflict, how it drove him to go to such extremes! Plus, it had been very easy to follow him, what with him being on a boat and all._

_But now, he was dead. Well, he was dying, but there wasn’t any way for him to live again. They sighed. Those seafaring thieves were fun, but they had a way to be complete and utter killjoys when they wanted to be._

_Just as they were about to leave and wallow in self-pity because of boredom again, a powerful heat appeared. Great Agni had arrived in all of his bright, blinding self. Great Spirits always looked like humans, and the sun himself was no exception. His expression was sad as he watched the Little Bonfire drown._

**_“I had wished so much more for him,”_ ** _he sighed. **“And now this.”**_

****

_Was he talking to them? Odd, it was usually Great La that spoke with them, or Great Tui in some cases, but they had never talked to other Great Spirits (well, except that one time). And now,_ Great Agni _of all spirits was right next to them. They really felt like they were intruding on something._

**_“Why are you here, Vengeful One?”_ **

_“Oh, I was just interested in this particular human, that’s all.”_

**_“Was it because he used your likeness?”_ **

****

_“It’s what brought my attention to him, yes. Quite a spectacle you made!”_

_He laughed sadly. **“Yes, he was. So much happened to him, so many bad things, and yet I always hoped that he would rise against that Traitor. But now…”**_

****

_“But now he’s dying.”_

_Great Agni’s expression changed slightly as he realised something. **“Yes, dying...”** He turned to them. **“He is only dying…”**_

****

_Oh._ Oh.

_“What are you planning?” they grinned, part of them already knowing the answer._

**_“Vayu once told me of how you merged with one of his children and kept her will alive during that time.”_ **

****

_“That did in fact happen.” Oh Min Hua, how they missed her._

**_“Would you do the same for mine?”_ **

Would they? _What kind of question was that?_

_Their grin got bigger. “With your permission, I will gladly do the same for him.”_

_Great Agni smiled. **“His fate has always been intertwined with the Avatar’s. Are you sure about this?”**_

****

_They shrugged with fake aloofness. “Wouldn’t be the first time that happened.”_

**_“Then go, O Trickster, you have my blessing.”_ **

****

_And with that, he disappeared._

_There would be no more boredom for quite some time, it seemed._

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, this whole thing is just a concept. I have zero plans except for a few scenes, so this'll just be some weird madness I've conjured up a while back. Have fun!


	2. Chapter 2

He wasn’t drowning anymore. That… didn’t seem very normal.

He checked, of course, but it was like he could suddenly breath under water. Well, at least his burns didn’t hurt as much. Still weird as fuck, though.

He turned around, but there was nothing but a deep dark blue surrounding him. He would have mistaken this for death, but there was definitely still water around him. It was all very odd. Scratch that, he was probably dead.

He spotted something in the corner of his eye. Something thin and scaly, like a wolf-snake’s tail. He turned around, but there was nothing. Then he saw it again, but just a glimpse. It happened a few more times before he heard a voice from behind.

_“It really is a shame.”_

Zuko turned around to the voice’s source, but there was nothing.

_“You were on such a good streak!”_

He turned again, but nothing.

_“Oh well, humans are quite fragile after all…”_ the voice said as the tail came back. He could see it clearly now. It’s scales were a deep blue with silver highlights and a few tufts of fur in places, which reminded him of drawings of dragons. But it was too long to be a dragon’s.

He turned around once more, and froze. In front of him was a long, vaguely fish-human-like figure. Its mouth was kept open by white sharp fangs, which stood out against its blue skin. It also had some kind of white mask, which only hid the parts around its eyes and connected to fins that looked like ears. Fur trailed down its body from its back and continued sporadically on its tail, like a dragon’s. Zuko still couldn’t see the end of it. Its eyes were black, with the exception of blue slit pupils gazing straight at him. By Agni was it scary.

_“Don’t be so scared, Little Bonfire,”_ it grinned. _“I won’t hurt you.”_

Somehow, Zuko seriously doubted that.

It must have shown, as the spirit (it couldn’t be anything else) laughed. _“Oh, you should see the look on your face! I’m being serious, you know. I’m just here to talk.”_

He gulped. “About what?”

_“Oh, you’ll soon see. Though, where to start? Hmm… Ah yes, I know! You’re about to die.”_

“No shit,” he let slip.

Instead of seeing this as an insult, the spirit laughed again as it swam towards him. _“Oh, I like you even more in person! But in all seriousness, I need to get back on track. You see, you are about to die. Sad thing really, as I’m sure you had a lot of plans for your life. Plus, the situation you’re in right now is… not ideal, is it? Even if you managed to get back to the surface, you would die of your wounds. Great Agni’s children don’t burn easily, after all, so…”_ It put a big, long webbed hand on the left side of his face, holding his scar in a gentle(?) way. Zuko automatically stumbled backwards (well, _stumbled_ …) without taking his eyes on the spirit.

“Who are you?” The spirit didn’t seem to be easily affronted, so Zuko really hoped that it wouldn’t suddenly change its tone.

_“Oh, you know me! Most people do!”_ he cheerfully stated as he circled Zuko. _“They don’t know my true name, that’s something only a select few know. Well, you too soon… But anyway! I actually got a new name thanks to you, though technically, it’s yours, so…”_

“You’re the Dark Water Spirit.” The ‘Blue Spirit’ had so much less dramatic flourish to the real name.

_“Frog-bull’s eye!”_ they grinned. _“Again, not my actual name, but that’s normal. I must say, I was quite startled to sense someone using my likeness for something other than a play. Took me out of my miserable boredom,”_ they sighed dramatically. _“But with the way you moved, I can understand why they took you for an actual spirit. And that breakout! Oh, I_ loved _it. Even if the ending was a bit wonky, I personally think it just made everything so much better!”_

The way they talked about the Pohuai Stronghold incident like they were discussing a play was very weird for Zuko. Plus, he still didn’t know _why_ the spirit had come to talk to him in the first place.

“Why are you here?”

_“Hm? Oh, sorry, I get off track quite easily. Being a chaotic spirit does have its downsides. But you’re right, I should get to the point. Since you’re about to die, it would be a real shame to waste all of that potential you have. I’m not the only one thinking that, Great Agni’s actually the one who gave me his blessings to come speak with you. You see, there’s this thing that some spirits can do. The ones that can usually don’t do it for various reasons, but I personally think that it is a very good change of pace. See, we can merge with living beings from this world, plants or animals. We can fuse our consciousness with them, binding ourselves to them for as long as we like if no one tries to change that. This is what I’m here for.”_

“You… want to take my body?”

_“Oh no, it’s not possession! It’s not as fun in my opinion. Merging means that both of our consciousness would be put together. Like… like a compound of two metals! Or when you mix two liquids together! Well, except for oil and water… Anyway, thanks to that, you would still be ‘living’ in your world instead of going through the whole reincarnation process you living beings go through and have to start from scratch!”_

“But, then I wouldn’t be able to do what I want. You’d be the one more in control since you’re-”

_“The one suggesting this? No no, don’t worry about that. Once it’s all done, your will would be my own. Your goals would be the same, with maybe a few exceptions. Together, we would be only one being. You would be me, and I would be you. Your personality would stay similar, with a few changes because we are not the same, you would still have all your memories, and you would still care for your loved ones! The only difference would be that you would be half spirit, in a sense. No need for sleep or food, gravity would only be a side note, you’d be more resistant to pretty much anything from this world, and you would get some pretty nifty abilities that I possess!”_

Zuko considered what the spirit was saying. This all seemed well and good, but there was still the question as to _why???_

“But why would you want this?”

They chuckled. _“Haven’t you been listening? I’m bored! And you pretty much took me out of this boredom, so it’s the least I could do! There’s also a bunch of other reasons, but you’ll only find out if you accept.”_

Oh right, as if he would accept a spiritual contract of whatever without knowing the downsides. He _had_ heard about those stupid enough to not dig a little deeper.

“This all seems too good to be true. What’s the catch?”

_“Ah, smart one. Weeelll, you would probably outlive all of your loved ones. Plus, we might get unaligned a few times in the beginning, which is_ not _a fun process, though that’s pretty normal. There’s also the fact that while you would still be you, you would also be me, which entails that your instincts might get a little…_ spirity _. It’s really hard to explain.”_

“So… I would be vengeful?”

_“Aren’t you already?”_

“Well… not really,” he stuttered. “I mean, I guess I pushed Azula off a roof after she pushed me off a roof, but I was nine.”

_“Yes, children are quite vengeful. That’s what I like about them.”_

“I guess I kinda wanna punch Zhao in the face? But nothing as drastic as what you would do!” He had read all about the Dark Water Spirit, he knew what they were capable of when angered.

They tilted their head. _“And what would I do?”_

“W-well, you punished an entire town for a slight against you, you drove people mad, haunted them for the rest of their lives!”

_“I did, didn’t I? I wouldn’t expect you to understand why I did it. As much as some like to say that humans and spirits are the same, there’s still a limit to that. Though, in my defence, once the person I’m after is dead, I don’t go after their families or next life. I never really got why some do that… But, I can understand your concerns, even if they are quite minor in my opinion. Let’s put it this way. Do you want to continue living with your memories and help who you want to help or punch who you want to punch? Or would you rather go to your next life where everything is uncertain and where you may not see the ones that care about you?”_

“There’s not really anyone who cares about me…” he said in a quiet voice.

_“What about your uncle? He seems to do so.”_

“How do you know about him?”

_“You travelled on a boat that moves on water. While I may be associated with the deep, I am still a_ water _spirit. Plus, you were just very entertaining to watch.”_ Zuko made a face. They laughed. _“Yeah, sounds kind of creepy when I say it out loud.”_

“Just a bit…”

_“But anyway, what do you choose?”_

Good question. On the one hand, he knew what happened to people that made deals with spirits. Sure it sometimes ended well, but there was always some kind of loophole that the spirit would use, making it backfire on the person somehow. But then there was this spiteful part of him that really wanted to get back at Father, who, if you went back far enough, was the reason why he was dying in the first place. He also wanted to see Uncle again, and maybe help Azula as well. Sure, she had probably gotten worse, but he always felt like he could do _something_. And here was a spirit who could help him get all that. And it wasn’t like he would loose anything. He was _literally_ dying. The Dark Water Spirit wouldn’t attack him in his next life or anyone that he loved if something went wrong because spirits didn’t lie.

But then again, how much would he change from his actual self? Would it be only a few things, or would he be more different than what the spirit was letting on. He didn’t want to murder or torture people because of a slight.

Still, he now had the choice to stay and help Uncle and Azula, and _that_ wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

You know what? Fuck it, he had never been known for thinking ahead.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

_“Do what?”_

“What?”

_“The first or the second option? I’m a trickster spirit, I thrive on technicalities and word play. You need to be thorough in this exchange.”_

He sighed, annoyed. “I’ll do your… merging, or whatever you call it.”

The Dark Water Spirit grinned even more. _“I’m so glad to hear it.”_

They swam to him before putting their hand on Zuko’s forehead. As they then put their own forehead on the back of their hand, they whispered a sort of chant. He suddenly felt tired and relaxed as the spirit slowly disappeared.

Their voice still rang in his head. _“Now sleep.”_

_And so he did._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go! Don't know when I'll post the next part of the series, but I do know the next part at least.


End file.
